First time for everything
by Atari-chan
Summary: What if, when they first went to Hogwarts, Sirius was one of the “popular” ones? Sorted into Gryffindor much to his mother’s disgust, he takes solace only in aggravating his classmates, but when it comes to Remus? Things change.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: MMWPP era. What if, when they first went to Hogwarts, Sirius was one of the "popular" ones? Sorted into Gryffindor much to his mother's disgust, he takes solace only in aggravating his classmates, but when it comes to Remus? Things change.

Start Story:

"Alright you two, that's it! I'm splitting you two up! They'll fire me if I don't get enough of you to pass your OWLs." Professor Slughorn bellowed across the classroom, already in a rather bad mood from teaching the intelligent but leaning-towards-hippy Ravenclaw seventh years. All too aware of whom he was talking to, James Potter and Remus Lupin looked up guiltily from their antidote, which was emitting bright, rubbery-smelling, yellow smoke in thick clouds as well as a strange baaing sound.

"Potter, go over there. Give him at least a small chance of getting out of this classroom alive," James almost groaned out loud as the professor gestured to a snivelling, rather rodent-like boy named Peter, but held himself back considering the 4 detentions he'd already received in their first 3 weeks at school.

"And Lupin, go and join Black in the corner. Maybe you can set a good example for a change," Remus nodded, and stood up with his books and ingredients, but exchanged a look with James and rolled his eyes as soon as Slughorn turned away. Resigned to his fate, he dropped his books on the desk next to Sirius, who exchanged a look of his own with his friends and, with a flick of his wand, pulled Remus's chair almost silently backwards, figuring that if he had to work with such a loser, he'd at least get some entertainment out of it.

Remus, with regular-werewolf-transformation-enhanced-hearing, however, simply continued sorting his ingredients out of the mess he'd made of them, before wordlessly turning, retrieving his chair and sitting down. An expectant look at Sirius revealed that the older boy was looking mildly impressed.

"How far have you got?" Remus gestured to the blackboard, figuring that if he had to work with such a poser, he'd at least get a good potions grade out of it.

Sirius arched an eyebrow and looked ironically at his empty cauldron. Remus simply nodded with a patience borne of practice, and began to work, ignoring the regular sniggers from Sirius and his friends. After a few minutes, however, Sirius got a little bored, and handed Remus one of the ingredients as he reached for them. It was a gesture meant to save time, but Remus froze halfway through taking it, his fingertips just touching Sirius's, to give him a searching look. Sirius looked back at him for a moment, his expression carefully neutral, before Remus was satisfied and returned to the potion. As he went to start the next step, however, Sirius handed him exactly what he needed again, earning himself another calculating stare.

After completing the next stage, Remus reached for something else, and once more his hand found Sirius's. Again, the searching look, before Remus withdrew his hand, picked up the right ingredient from the desk and continued as if nothing had happened. He heard James turn laughter into a coughing fit on the other side of the room and smiled slightly, but showed no signs of acknowledging Sirius's stunned look. The other boy, unaware of Remus's werewolf enhanced sense of smell, was staring at him in disbelief, still holding the pouch, and none of this friends, who almost always had something cutting to say, spoke a word. In fact, none of them moved until Remus retrieved his pouch from Sirius's hand and used it in the next step, causing the other boy to lower his arm.

Shortly afterwards, by which time Remus had managed to create a perfect example of the potion with no more of Sirius's 'help', the lesson ended.

"Should have seen the look on his face! Remus, that was fantastic!" James laughed as they left the dungeon for lunch, "I've never seen him that shocked!"

"Well we **did** only meet him a week ago…" Remus reasoned, although he flushed slightly at the praise.

"Yeah, but still! You're a genius in school uniform," James replied, and was rewarded with a gentle laugh.

"Thanks, James. Just for that, you can have my schoolbooks when I wake up dead tomorrow," Remus said darkly, referring to the fact that he doubted that Sirius, who was in the same house as them and thus shared the same dorm, was unlikely to be above attacking a sleeping opponent.

"Pureblood twat," James muttered as Sirius passed them, alone for a change but still shoving other students out of the way. He froze, however, as he heard James's comment, and turned to look at him, his eyes narrowed.

"What did you just say?" he asked, quietly but with an evidently dangerous tone. James inhaled, ready to reply, but much to his -and Sirius's- surprise, Remus got there first.

"What makes you think we'd waste our breath talking about you?" he said coldly, and James stared at him in surprise. He'd never heard Remus say anything like that before.

Sirius's eyes narrowed for a moment, before he stalked off, and James let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"What is **with** you today?" he asked, looking with concern at his friend, who flushed again, staring at the floor.

"I don't know. He's just so… aggravating! Close-minded, arrogant prick!" Remus's fists clench, and he suppressed the urge to punch something, "I can't stand people like that," he finished, forcing himself to stay calm.

"Given up on becoming popular then?" James grinned, and Remus smiled slightly.

"I think I gave up on that two years ago," he muttered, without thinking.

"What happened two years ago?" James frowned curiously, looking at his friend as they reached the ground floor.

"Oh, I just… realised what a load of crap it was, that's all," Remus shrugged and smiled a little nervously, and although James looked at him curiously for a little longer, he nodded and accepted the answer. Remus sighed. He would have to tell James eventually; he knew that. But he couldn't bring himself to do it just yet. How could he tell his best, and currently only, friend that there was one night a month during which he could kill each and every person he cared about without a second thought?

Change scene:

The next few days passed without event, although Remus noticed that Sirius wasn't quite as high-spirited as usual, and was even seen, on occasion, without the admirers that usually surrounded him.

That wasn't to say, however, that Sirius had forgotten about the humiliation he had suffered at Remus's hands. In fact, he was silently fuming the entire time, trying his best to think of ways to get even. A nighttime attack would only mean his exposure as a coward, and so he had to find another opening, another time during which Remus let his guard down.

His observation of the other boy, however, meant that he could hardly fail to notice his steadily deteriorating appearance. Although he usually looked a little peaky, the previous few days had seen him getting progressively worse. He was handing in P level assignments where usually he would have got at least an E; failed to concentrate in class and had racked up even more detentions than Sirius that week. Sirius didn't mention it to any of his friends, since they were still obstinately under the impression that he wanted to face an equal, rather than a handicapped opponent, but it bothered him most of the time. What was wrong with Remus? Was he sick? Did he have some sort of pre-teen separation anxiety?

So, on the third fourth night after the potions lesson, when Remus made his way out of the common room, James conspicuous in his absence, Sirius knew that he had to follow him. He had no invisibility cloak, or spell, but years of living in a pureblood household in which he was forced to sneak downstairs in the dead of night to steal food, meant that he might as well have done.

Considering the situation, Sirius was unsurprised, if a little disappointed, when Remus, glancing around nervously and making it horribly obvious that he knew he shouldn't be there, stopped at the hospital wing and went inside. Sirius, sure that he was about to solve the mystery, edged closer to listen at the door, but sprang back and hid as it opened and the matron peered around, before walking swiftly in the direction of the Entrance hall, seemingly alone. Sirius, however, noticed the way that the door closer a moment later than it should have done, and recognised the disillusionment charm she'd obviously placed on Remus. Squinting into the darkness, Sirius searched for a shadow- the simplest way to find someone who had been disillusioned- but found none in the almost darkness of the corridor and was forced to simply wait until he thought Remus had rounded the corner. Thankfully, the Entrance hall was brightly lit, and although it hindered Sirius's movement, he at least knew where his target was.

And a good thing it was too. Remus, despite his senses being dulled somewhat by lack of sleep and a distinct feeling of dread, stopped dead in the middle of the hall, positive that he had heard someone move behind him. He only had time for a few seconds pause, however, since the matron was already getting further ahead of him than he liked, so put the noise down to one of the portraits and hurried off, Sirius in hot pursuit. Much to his surprise, they started a long trek across the grounds, but the small amount of remaining sunlight allowed Sirius to follow Remus's shadow instead of being left in the dark- in both senses of the term.

He felt no closer to finding an answer, however, as they reached what could only be the tree that they had all been warned about on their first day. The branches swayed, even though there was no breeze, and as the matron neared it, it seemed to lean towards her. A flick of her wand and an unspoken phrase, however, froze it and she made her way inside, followed by the two teens. Sirius's eyes widened; he doubted that even the seventh years knew about **that** passageway. And here, he was, clambering inside on his way to find out what would almost certainly be the blackmail evidence of the century. He'd show Lupin what happened when he messed with a 'pureblood twat'!

The passageway led a short way down, before levelling out and continuing for an indefinite distance. Sirius frowned; although the light was almost nonexistent and he was thus unlikely to be seen, a long straight passageway meant that he had nowhere to hide, and he ran a very high risk of being seen if the only exit was the entrance. Thankfully, as a creaking noise overhead indicated that the immobilisation spell had worn off, Sirius spotted what looked like an attempt at a branching tunnel. Smiling once more, due to his under a tree/branching passageway pun, he slipped silently into the alcove and waited for the footsteps of his oblivious companions to fade. As they did so, he paused for a moment before beginning to make his way after them. He had hardly taken a step, however, when the swishing of a cloak alerted him to the matron's return, and he was forced to hide again.

He held his breath, eyes screwed shut as he prayed to every God he could think of. The matron, seeming to be in quite a hurry, left without looking back, muttering another spell as she clambered out of the tree trunk and into the steadily falling night. Sirius, feeling incredibly relieved and even more curious than ever, thanked his lucky stars for her inattention and began to make his way stealthily along the passage. It didn't take him long to realise that it was a lot longer than it had looked and sounded, due to the echoes and the almost pitch blackness that surrounded him.

Just as he stubbed his toe on the uneven floor for the third time and was about to bring out his wand to do the lumos charm, however, he reached the end, and emerged into what had evidently once been a fine wine cellar. Watching and listening carefully for any sign of movement, he made his way up the stairs and into the kitchen, where a quick glance around told him that nobody had used it in at least a year. Aside from the thick layer of dust covering everything, the fridge door was open slightly, with what looked like purple tentacles protruding from it. Sirius skirted around it, aware that anything that had been in an empty house for that long would be hungry, and continued into the dining room, where he froze at a sound from the adjacent room; a long-deserted lounge. He peered around the doorframe, scanned the room, and finally focused on a figure huddled in the middle of the room, shaking uncontrollably.

With a start, Sirius realised it was Remus, curled up on the floor with his arms wrapped around his legs and his face buried in his knees, violently sobbing without any awareness of the other boy's presence.

As Sirius watched, however, the last trace of sunlight disappeared from the gaps in the boarded up window, and Remus tensed, his breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps and he struggled to keep control, before he simply gave up and howled.

That one noise made Sirius want to start screaming himself- the intensity of the pain and suffering of the boy in front of him was overwhelming in a way he'd never experienced before. It took him a little while to figure out exactly what was happening, but even as Remus's fully transformed body lay panting heavily on the floor, Sirius could do nothing but stare transfixed. It was so raw, so... horrifying, that he just couldn't help himself.

As it got up, however, one thought pushed itself to the front of his mind.

He had to get out of there.

End chapter

Well, that's enough for now, methinks. I've got work to do and House to watch. Let me know if you like it, I've got almost another chapter to put up and I can get it up pretty soon if you want.

Thanks for those of you who let me know just when it was that Remus got bitten. Have a cookie on me.


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: MMWPP era. What if, when they first went to Hogwarts, Sirius was one of the "popular" ones? Sorted into Gryffindor much to his mother's disgust, he takes solace only in aggravating his classmates, but when it comes to Remus? Things change.

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed- it really made my day. So here's some more in what is an incredibly quick update for me.

Chapter 2:

7 hours later, however, getting out was the last thing on Sirius's mind.

After an hour of sitting in a downstairs toilet, the door of which had been the closest to the lounge and thus the closest escape route, with nothing but spiders for company, Sirius had figured that the wolf- not Lupin, he reminded himself; that **thing** had nothing in common with the quiet boy he saw every day in class- had fallen asleep or something, and opened the door a crack. The sight that met his eyes, however, was not the hallway, with its rotting carpet and suspiciously stained wallpaper, but a pair of amber eyes framed with matted grey fur that only partially obscured the long, sharp teeth with the potential to do damage a great deal more lasting than the claws that quickly slashed in Sirius's direction. With his reflexes intact, however, Sirius slammed the door shut before any harm came to him, slid the bolt across and leaned his weight against the thankfully well-built door that was the only thing remaining between him and certain- well, not necessarily death. Immense pain, then.

Needless to say, he didn't open the door again in a hurry. After a while, the wolf seemed to get bored of slamming itself repeatedly against the door, but Sirius wasn't taking any chances. Instead he sat, curled up with his knees to his chest, leaning against the door, too jumpy to sleep and twitching nervously whenever he itched, checking for spiders almost constantly. He wasn't scared of them, of course he wasn't! He just didn't like them.

After the aforementioned 7 hours, he heard movement on the other side of the door and stiffened, listening for any sign of… well, anything. And anything, he knew, would have been so much better. A low, crooning sound; an animal in pain, before a howl, which sounded so much louder in the stillness of the night, ripped through the air. Then, there was silence. Sirius had no watch, no way of telling whether it was safe for him to leave or not, but as he heard sobbing a short while later, he knew that it was over. He stood, knees cricking with the movement; stretched; ran a hand through his hair through force of habit, and unbolted the door.

The effect was instantaneous. Remus stopped sobbing; which even Sirius -unused to human emotions as he was- could tell was generally a good thing, but it was replaced by a _continuous "No, no, no,"_ of denial that, for some reason, made Sirius feel as though his heart was being torn into pieces. Unable to bear it any longer, he opened the door, shaking his head furiously as he did so to get any stray spiders out of his hair, and stepped into the relative light of the hallway. Remus froze, staring at him for a moment, and then started crying again with his head in his hands, aware of what he could have done, and the consequences of what he **had** done.

Sirius, feeling lost as he was confronted with such an open display of emotion, tried to think what to do. He reached out a –shaking?- hand in an attempt to offer comfort, but pulled away before he actually made contact, unable to go through with such an uncharacteristic action. He bit his lip, each sob seemingly tearing out a new piece of his heart.

"Stop it!" he said eventually, sounding a lot more desperate than he would have liked, before clamping a hand over his mouth as he realised what he'd said, and the fact that his voice had cracked on the second word.

Remus, now feeling embarrassed as well as terrified, didn't look up, but attempted to calm his breathing, although it caught with each deep inhalation. Sirius, still trembling slightly, knelt beside him, desperate to offer some form of comfort but unsure about how to. He was saved from having to react, however, as Remus finally looked up, his eyes red and bloodshot, hid face pale and shadowed, his cheekbones extraordinarily pronounced. Even with the strangeness of the situation, Sirius realised just how odd it was that he'd noticed that, but he put it to the back of his mind as he sought for something to say.

"You look terrible," he said, and regretted it instantly. Remus, understandably in a rather bad mood, arched an eyebrow at he sheer stupidity of the comment, and Sirius, stubborn as ever, returned the look with a defiant expression. After a pause, however, Remus looked away, rolling his eyes. When he spoke, it was in his usual serene tone, but with an edge Sirius actually quite liked the sound of.

"I **feel** terrible. It's a set," his eyes flicked downwards, scanning Sirius's body for injuries, "how did you get here?"

"Followed you," Sirius shrugged, then smirked as Remus looked at him in surprise, "don't underestimate a pureblood, Lupin. Whether he's a twat or not."

Again, Remus rolled his eyes, but a slight smile graced his lips, "You'll be in detention for weeks,"

Sirius shrugged as though he didn't care, but as the familiar form of Professor McGonagall emerged in the doorway on the other side of the room, his eyes widened in fear. Had he not been so worried, Remus would have laughed.

"Sirius Black! Do you have any idea how worried we've all been?" she crossed the room swiftly, and pulled Sirius to his feet, checking for injuries and poking him occasionally with her wand.

"He didn't hurt me," Sirius told her, but she ignored him.

"What on earth did you think you were doing?" Professor McGonagall asked, as she finally released her student.

"I was…" Sirius began, but trailed off as he realised that he had nothing less than mortifying to tell her.

"He was here on my request," Remus stood, facing up to the professor, but the effect was ruined slightly as his left leg gave way, and he fell. Much to his surprised, however, he felt strong arms encircle his waist, catching him before he hit the floor. Opening his eyes, which he'd closed while bracing himself for impact with the floor, he froze as he found himself gazing into soft dark eyes that he'd never expected to see that close.

Sirius, now cursing his fast reactions, tore himself away from those fascinating amber eyes, and lowered Remus to the floor before standing up and returning to stand beside his head of House, who was looking between the two boys somewhat curiously.

Remus, feeling more confused than he could remember ever feeling before, stared at Sirius for a moment longer, trying to figure out what on earth had just happened, before turning back to Professor McGonagall, "I asked him to come along. He didn't want to, but…" he glanced at Sirius, who was staring at him in disbelief, "I insisted," Remus finished, his expression carefully without emotion. Professor McGonagall looked at him for a moment, her eyes slightly narrowed, before turning back to Sirius.

"Black, I'm giving you two weeks of detentions for rule-breaking and taking twenty points from Gryffindor," she said levelly, and Sirius, who had winced at the mention of points and still had his eyes closed, nodded.

"Lupin-" Sirius opened his eyes as she continued, "that was a very noble, if transparent thing you just did. Ten points to Gryffindor,"

Sirius grinned, and Remus flushed, looking at the floor in his embarrassment at being so easily seen through.

"But I'm giving you a week of detentions for lying. Come on, you're both going to spend the day in bed," she walked swiftly off, and Remus struggled to get to his feet. Sirius, considering the situation, helped pull him up, and supported him as they made their way out of the house, through the passageway and out of the tree. Once outside, however, Remus, blinking in the bright sunlight, pulled away, carefully avoiding the gaze of his companion. Sirius frowned, for some reason missing the warmth of remusus' body in the cold morning air, but as they neared the castle and his friends came around the corner, he was glad that he didn't have even more to explain.

"Sirius, where've you been, mate?" Elliot, one of the more independent members of the group asked him, and Sirius grimaced, gesturing to Professor McGonagall in a silent '_I'll tell you later_' gesture. Elliot looked at him and then at Remus with narrowed eyes, but nodded and led the others away. Oddly enough, Sirius struggled to care. He knew that while Elliot could stand on his own, the others were nothing without him, their esteemed leader. In fact, if elliot left it would probably benefit the group, since he'd been getting on Sirius's nerves since the beginning of term.

Professor McGonagall led the two boys inside but, hardly to their surprise, headed for her office first.

"Wait here," she said as she opened the door, closing and locking it behind her students as she went to find Dumbledore. Sirius and Remus, left along in the dark room, stood nervously, although to be honest it was more the presence of the other than it was the threat of impending punishment that made them so. After a few moments, however, Sirius asked the question that had been on his mind ever since they had left the passageway.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Hm?" understandably, Remus looked at him in confusion.

"Why'd you lie? You could have been expelled."

"Oh… well, I just figured that, since you'd tell everyone as soon as we got back anyway, I'd get kicked out no matter what I said," Remus shifted, avoiding Sirius's eyes with evident unease.

Sirius looked at him for a moment, considering his options, "Hey… I won't say anything, okay?" he said eventually, wondering just when it was that he had become so taken in. The instant Remus looked at him, with his eyes filling with tears of relief, however, he understood just a little more.

"You really won't say anything?" Remus whispered, watching Sirius's expression.

"Not a word," Sirius smiled slightly, and before he had a chance to react- or, considering his reflexes, simply before he chose to react- Remus had thrown his arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, an experience that was, while a little painful, not altogether unwelcome. Sirius caught his balance, steadied himself, and patted Remus rather awkwardly on the back as the smaller boy sobbed into his shoulder, choking out a '_thank you'_ that was only just heard.

"You're welcome," Sirius murmured, after Remus failed to release him, although that could have been something to do with the fact that Sirius, almost unconsciously, had wrapped an arm tightly around his waist. Fortunately for him, the other boy didn't seem to mind too much, but after more than a minute, Remus felt the need to break the silence.

"What are we doing?" he asked, although it was evident from his tone that he didn't really want to let go.

"I don't care," Sirius told him, tightening his hold in an attempt to retain the only affection he could ever remember receiving.

"Your friends won't be too happy if they find out."

Sirius paused, before repeating, "I don't care."

"But-"

"Don't make me say it again," Sirius warned, but it was obvious that he was joking- something Remus had never hear him do for someone else's benefit before. When he spoke again, however, his tone had changed, "Just let me have this. For once."

He sounded desperate, almost pleading, and all Remus could think to do was pull him closer, attempting to offer the comfort that he so obviously needed without a thought for his previous feelings towards the boy in his arms.

Suddenly, however, there was a knock at the door, and the two boys sprang apart, each trying to look as though what had just happened had never happened.

"Professor McGonagall?" the voice of James Potter called through the door, and Sirius rolled his eyes, trying to hide his exasperation about the interruption of his and Remus's interaction. Upon seeing Sirius's murderous expression, Remus almost choked as he tried to stop his laughter, which only increased as the other boy glared at him. James, as not response came from the office, hurried off to his first lesson, worrying about his missing friend the whole way, while Sirius continued to glare at said missing friend. He only got worse, however, as Sirius advanced on him threateningly, trying to hide the fact that he wasn't actually feeling anything remotely negative towards the boy in front of him at that particular point in time. In fact, seeing him laugh… reassured him in a way. If someone who went through such an ordeal every month could still smile and laugh, surely there was hope for him too?

Even as Remus found himself pinned against the wall, Sirius leaning against him with one hand on the wall either side of his head, he struggled to calm down. But then, something in Sirius's expression changed, and it made Remus's heart skip a beat. His laughter stopped, and he inhaled shakily, unable to force himself to move, because that would involve tearing himself away from those eyes. Those eyes, which usually sparkled with malice but looked so sad as he saw them close up. Remus went to say something, but Sirius, moving quickly, touched a finger to his lips.

"Shh. It's not important," he whispered, his hand sliding sideways to rest on Remus's jaw, tilting his head up with a gentleness the other boy had never expected. Again, he went to say something, but even before Sirius had a chance to silence him again, the door slammed open and Sirius jumped back, attempting to look casual. Remus moved away from the wall, and accepted the chair McGonagall offered him, dropping into it with a suddenly realisation of his exhaustion.

Their head of house proceeded to reprimand them for their irresponsible behaviour, but since both of the boys were obviously too tired to hear a word she was saying, she let them go back up to their dorm after a few minutes, having made sure that they would get there without being hassled by the other students who were all in lessons.

They made their way to their tower in silence, each taking occasional glances at the other when they thought they weren't looking. Remus yawned the password, ignoring the fat Lady's enquiries about his appearance, and they went through the common room to the dorms, ignoring the 6 year girl who was swearing she'd seen them going at it like rabbits in one of the greenhouses. By the time they reached the top of the stairs Remus practically had to crawl into bed, and fell asleep instantly. Sirius, however, was at the stage where he was too tired to sleep and, drawing the hangings around his bed, he lay down but simply stared at the canopy, trying to make sense of his thoughts.

What the hell had he been thinking in that office? He'd never done anything like that before! His mother would kill him if she found out that he'd been about to kiss a werewolf. Filthy half breeds, she called them, and as Sirius thought the words, he remembered her screaming at him once upon a time for arguing that werewolves had very little choice in the matter. He shivered, and pulled the covers over himself, glad at least that he didn't have to see her again until summer, since it was just too much hassle going home for the holidays when he knew he'd have so much more fun at school. At least the food would be good; Kreacher, the new Black House elf, was hardly capable of boiling water, let along preparing a Christmas meal.

Sisiur frowned, realising that his thoughts had taken rather a different turn. Sighing, he rolled onto his side and curled up in a ball, closing his eyes in an attempt to sleep, but before he'd laid there for even ten seconds, he made a sound of exasperation, dragged himself out of bed and across to the bath room that was situated halfway down the stairs leading to the common room. In reality though, he knew it wasn't his bladder that was keeping him awake. There were advantages to spending the night in a toilet.

As he returned to his bed, however, he stopped partway across the room, backtracked a few steps, and headed for Remus's bed instead, stuffing his hands in the pockets as he just stood there for a moment, watching him sleep. His frown deepened as he realised just how cliché he was being, but how could he help but feel something for the only person who had ever acted like they cared? Even if they had, prior to their affection, trapped him in a toilet for eight hours.

He sighed again, and leaned over to pull the blankets over the sleeping boy, before returning to his own bed, less confused but with a definite nagging feeling in the back of his mind. How could he explain if Elliot told his mother that he'd stopped hanging out with him in favour of a muggle-lover and his friends. Well, friend. Even though they didn't know he was a werewolf, he wouldn't put it past his mother to put veritaserum in his food. Actually, she probably wouldn't even be that subtle.

Eventually he fell asleep, but amidst dreams of giant spiders, wolves and insane house elves, he felt no better that evening when he awoke before dinner, only managing to drag himself out of bed because he knew that if he slept until the evening he'd be up all night. Checking on Remus, who even in sleep looked less rested than Sirius felt, he headed down to the common room, where it seemed the whole of Gryffindor house was sitting. Glancing around the room, Sirius arched an eyebrow as Elliot ignored him completely and the rest of the group avoided his gaze. He rolled his eyes, but at the same time was painfully aware that if his mother heard any of the rumours that had been going around, he wouldn't be allowed out of his room all summer. His mother was already rather upset that he hadn't been sorted into Slytherin.

Sighing quietly, he walked out of the common room and climbed out through the portrait hole. Elliot may have been a total wanker, but at least he kept Sirius entertained and stopped him from looking like a loser sitting by himself.

"Black."

Sirius froze as he heard a voice behind him, surprised that he hadn't heard anyone approach.

"Potter…"

There was a pause, and Sirius smiled slightly as he imagined James's stunned expression.

"Is it true?" James asked eventually, and Sirius frowned.

"Is what true?"

"About… the greenhouse."

Sirius laughed, and almost jumped at he felt what he recognised as a wand tip against the back of his neck. Although, considering the topic of their conversation, the wand tip didn't seem like such a bad thing to have poking him in the back.

"Of course not. I wouldn't dirty myself with someone like him," Sirius said, but evidently the sarcasm was missed as James, forgetting his wand, pulled him around and slammed him against the wall. Sirius figured it was understandable though, since it was probably something James imagined him saying.

"What the hell did you do to him? Why can't anyone see him now?" James growled at him, his eyes blazing, and Sirius began to get a little nervous.

"I did nothing. He's just tired," he spoke calmly, however, wondering why Remus hadn't even told James about his… little problem. There was a pause, during which the two boys faced each other with narrowed eyes.

"Look, Potter. You won't believe me no matter what I tell you, so why don't you ask him?" Sirius said eventually, placing his hands on James's shoulders and pushing him away, before knocking James's wand out of his hand, "and watch your temper. You could end up hurting someone," he smiled sarcastically, and walked away, defiantly leaving himself open to an attack from behind.

James looked after him for a moment, fuming quietly, before retrieving his wand and stalking off in the opposite direction. Something was definitely going on, and he was going to find out what it was if it killed him.

End chapter 2 

Hooray, chapter 2 is done! This is almost as long as T3 and it's only been a few days. Whoops. Well, hope you enjoyed it. I need to get a little more work done before chapter 3 can be posted though, so the wait will be longer.

_Comments, criticisms? Let me know!_

_Oh, and if you found the almost kiss thing dodgy, let me know so I can change it. I kinda forgot they were only in year 7, and while I don't think it's that bad, I don't want to upset anybody or anything._


	3. Chapter 3

_Whoops, looks like I've been confusing people, so I'll explain._

_The year 7 thing: Year 7 is the 7th year of an English school education, equivalent to a secondary school first year. Since a primary school would contain the years: reception, followed by 1-6, unlike the grade system I'm sure most of you are familiar with, the more modern way of referring to first year is year 7._

_Uhmm. Oh yeah, the OWLs thing: basically, you need all the knowledge from your first 5 years to pass your OWLs, because without a base for later knowledge you won't be able to learn anything. So thus, they're learning to pass their OWLs from first year._

_Well, hope that's ok with y'all. Sorry for the long wait time, I love you all for all your fantastic reviews; they make me feel so happy… and really guilty when I don't update. And I'm on 8 peoples' alerts! You guys make me feel so loved!_

_Sorry it's late, but my cat ate my computer and my brother spilt porridge over my writing and my toilet exploded. Not really. But nobody cares why a chapter is late, people, they only care that it's up! So shut up and get on with it, already._

Start chapter:

"This is so boring!" James muttered, leaning his chin on his hand and idly doodling with his quill.

"If it was fun, Potter, it wouldn't be a punishment. And let's face it; you're hardly beer and skittles yourself," Sirius muttered, scrawling quickly in an attempt to get his 500 lines done before McGonagall came back from the hospital wing, where a third year had accidentally turned her hair into snakes when a crimping spell went wrong.

"It's your fault I'm here in the first place!" James turned to glare at the other boy, who stared stonily back.

"You can't blame me for your violent tendencies," he said, smiling as James got to his feet, pushing his chair backwards out of the way.

"James, sit the** fuck** down," Remus snapped, finally unable to bear it any longer. Upon noticing James's surprised stare, however, he added, more quietly, "He's not worth your time,"

James, still looking at his friend in stunned surprise, consented to sitting down, but didn't let it go. Remus hated swearing with a passion, and there he was cursing at **him**! His best friend! "Remus, I wish you'd tell me what's going on," he said a little dejectedly, and Remus turned guiltily back to his lines.

"Leave him along, Potter. He's not your wife. Or your husband, as the case may be…" said Sirius, smiling to himself as he resisted the urge to look up to see James's response in favour of showing the utter contempt he had for his unwilling detention companion, To tell the truth, though, he was as surprised as James had been by Remus's outburst, but he's apparently been bugged by James all day, and that would get on anyone's nerves. But, of course, he wasn't going to tell anyone that, least of all James. Or Elliot. Actually, it would probably be least of all his mother, since she would not only publicly humiliate him but also make him suffer through whichever form of violence caught her fancy at that particular point in time.

"Black, have you finished your lines?" Professor McGonagall was suddenly standing over him, and he snapped out of his thoughts with a start.

"Just a few more minutes, professor," he said, smiling pleasantly. Past McGonagall's shoulder, he saw James roll his eyes and mutter something.

"You'll be back tomorrow for that, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, turning to face him, and James's face fell. Behind McGonagall, he saw Sirius wink at him, and shot him a glare.

"And that's an extra day for you too, Black."

Annoyed but refusing to let it show, Sirius shrugged and returned to his lines.

"I'm done, Professor," James said after a moment, figuring that if he couldn't get any further entertainment out of Sirius, he'd at least rub his departure in his face.

"Alright, Mr. Potter. Same time tomorrow," McGonagall took the parchment from James, who nodded his understanding and left the room, pausing only to smile sweetly at Sirius, who pretended not to see him. As the door closed behind him, however, a full thud from behind Sirius made him look up and turn around, and he saw that Remus had actually fallen asleep at his desk; something he'd evidently been resisting strongly in James's presence. Frowning in what could only be sympathy for the other boy; Sirius glanced at McGonagall, who was watching Remus with a pitying expression on her face.

"Professor, did you have to give him detention? He's got homework as well," Sirius ventured, not exactly sure if it was true but figuring that it was, considering how much he had for his second week at school.

"Mr. Black, it may surprise you to know that you are the reason that he is here. Had you not followed him, sparking rumours that are getting lewder but the way, we could have claimed that he was in the hospital wing as we'd initially planned," McGonagall turned to look at Sirius, "and, had you not provoked Potter into earning a detention of his own, I would have let him sleep."

Sirius stared at her, stunned by the revelation. This was all **his** fault? He couldn't even feel proud of his stalking skills, having found that out. Remus had been willing to sacrifice his place at the school in order to stop Sirius from getting into trouble, and how had the favour been returned? Sleep deprivation and pointless labour.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually, and Professor McGonagall stared at him. Sirius Black, apologising for upsetting a fellow student? Usually he enjoyed the power that the abuse of his classmates brought him, but this...? A student had never had such a sudden change of heart before. But then, she supposed, there had never been a werewolf attending Hogwarts before. She had never actually seen a transformation, but various accounts told of a disturbing display of pain and suffering, and in such a young boy… it was almost unbearable; the thought of something so fragile going through so much so often.

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," she said eventually, retreating to the other side of the classroom and rearranging a few of the items on her desk, "take him back to the dorm at half past, and make sure he gets some sleep. Your task tomorrow is a lot more… demanding, physically speaking. You will need to stay alert."

Sirius nodded and returned to his lines, since he'd done fewer than half the required number and didn't want to spend yet another evening in the transfiguration classroom instead of in bed. He felt horribly guilty for adding to the pain of an evidently suffering classmate, but as well as the guilt, he felt a little fear. What would they be asked to do the next day? He had learnt early on the in the wizarding world, physical exertion usually meant danger since magic could be used for most of the more difficult physical tasks, but what could they possibly ask three first years to do without cocking up?

Change scene:

"Remus? Remus, mate, come on!" James shook his friend, who had skipped dinner in favour of sleep and was curled up in a ball on his bed, blankets shoved aside.

"Go 'way," Remus groaned, his usual composure lost in the want to sleep.

"We have detention!" James reminded him, still shaking his shoulder. _But why is he so tired anyway? What is it that he doesn't want to talk about? Why would two first years have been having sex in a greenhouse, of all places? Why would they have been having sex at all? They were only eleven years old, for God's sake!_

"Okay, I'm up… I'm up!" Remus batted James's hand away with surprising force and dragged himself into a sitting position. He rubbed his eyes, before getting to his feet and forcing a smile onto his face, "What are we doing today?" he asked, as he searched under his bed for the shoes he'd kicked there earlier.

"I don't know," James shrugged, his face solemn as he retrieved his friend's cloak from its place on the floor, where it had been thrown earlier. Remus, looking up as he pulled on his shoes, reached out to take it but paused halfway as he saw his friend's expression.

"James, what's wrong?" he asked, although in all reality he knew.

"Why won't you tell me what happened?" James asked, looking hurt, "if you can trust that pureblood wanker with whatever it was, but can't I know anything about it? We're supposed to be friends…"

Remus felt a stab of guilt. They **were** friends, and even though it had only been a week or so since they'd met for the first time, even that was a long time to spend in the constant company of someone, and they'd developed a trusting bond already. And if **Sirius** had taken it that well, after spending a night trapped in a downstairs toilet, James, who had stood by him from the very beginning, even going so far as to defend him from Sirius when he'd made a less than friendly comment about the state of Remus's clothing, deserved to know. He deserved to be told, much more than the idiot who had followed him in an attempt to gain some blackmail evidence.

"Will you get a bloody move on?" Sirius's voice was heard from the common room, where he had been told to wait for James and Remus prior to crossing the grounds, "I've got the next two weeks booked up with detentions as it is without you getting me any more!"

"Shut up, Black!" James yelled back over his shoulder, before turning back around to face his friend, who was still struggling with his decision. Feeling a little guilty himself about putting his best friend in such a predicament, he held out his cloak once more, "Maybe later, alright? We've got to get going."

For the first time in days, Remus's smile was genuine, and he pulled James into an embrace before donning his cloak and following his friend downstairs, where Sirius was waiting.

"About time," he said as James pointedly ignored him, leading the way to the entrance hall. Remus, however, nodded a greeting that was returned with a small smile, and together the three of them made their way out of the common room and down the corridor. They were silent, since none of them had anything to say that they wanted both of their companions to hear. As they reached the entrance hall to find Professor Slughorn waiting for them, however, Sirius groaned.

"Oh no…" he muttered, before smiling as the potions teacher looked at him, "Sluggy, my man! What's happening?"

"Now, now, Black. This is no laughing matter," the Professor said, and Sirius's face fell, "I've run out of Baurealis weed, and the only plant nearby is in the forest."

"So you're taking three first-years with you?" Sirius arched an eyebrow, wondering just why it was that Hogwarts, which was supposed to be the safest place in the world, always managed to put its students in danger without them even having to leave the grounds. Although, oddly enough, very few of the other students seemed to have the same problem…

"The forest?" James asked, looking a little nervous.

"Yes, well. The centaurs will not attack a child, so if anything should happen to me, then one of you will go up to the castle and tell them of my demise," Professor Slughorn told them, puffing his chest out in an attempt to look impressive. This was helped, of course, by the fact that he had neglected to mention the fact that a deal had been made with the centaurs; if the humans didn't go anywhere near their territory, then they would be left alone.

"Oh, fantastic," Sirius muttered, falling back into step with Remus as Slughorn led the way outside, followed closely by James, who was trying to make a point but failing somewhat since Remus wasn't actually awake enough to notice. He always found that, for some reason, listening to their potions professor left him feeling rather unwilling to stay awake.

"Keep up Black, Lupin, Don't want you getting lost now," Slughorn called over his shoulder, and James turned to look at them, eyes narrowing slightly at Sirius, who held up his hands in a _'I'm not doing anything!'_ gesture. James gave him a sceptical look, but turned back around. Remus frowned, blinking a few times to wake himself up as they neared the forest, and Professor Slughorn took out his wand to light the path.

"It's no wonder that most students behave if detention involves going in there…" Sirius muttered as they passed the first few trees and were immediately consumed by the darkness. He pulled out his own want and lit it, careful to stay close to the rest of the group, and together the four of them traipsed deeper and deeper into the forest, following a trail that got more difficult to manoeuvre with each passing minute.

Finally fully awake, Remus let his enhanced senses guide him, occasionally pulling Sirius out of the way as large holes or rocks in the path made themselves known.

"This is ridiculous." Sirius whispered eventually, "At this rate we'll starve to death before we get there."

"Quiet in the back there, Black," Slughorn said, frowning as the trail curved and led them in the wrong direction, while a smaller, more overgrown pathway at the side headed in the right one. Shrugging to himself, he followed the smaller one, forcing the group to walk in single file as they ducked under various branches. Still feeling slightly guilty about being the sole reason for the group having to take this trip, Sirius noticed how Slughorn's body blocked the light from his wand and figured that his own, although built just a little slimmer, was probably doing the same. Reaching back, he took hold of Remus's wrist and was surprised to find that he didn't pull away. Well, at least he didn't hate him. Not that he really understood why it should matter if he **did** hate him.

"Keep up, boys, Keep up," Slughorn called back from a distance much too far ahead for Sirius's liking. Since he, James and Remus, however, found it a lot more difficult to fight their way past the trees and branches that pay in their path than the stronger, rather larger professor, they soon fell behind and were left alone in the forest.

"Bugger," James muttered, as he completely lost sight of the light he had been following.

"That would hardly be an appropriate gesture," Sirius told him, frowning into the darkness with his hold still tight around Remus's wrist.

"How can such a fuckwit be teaching us?" James ignored him, pulling out his wand and lighting it. Narrowing his eyes against the increased brightness, Sirius released Remus's wrist and settled for holding his cloak, since James was obviously very suspicious already. Remus, however, had other ideas. Suddenly terrified of being left alone, he took Sirius's hand again, and grabbed James's with the other.

"Remus, mate, calm down," James said, patting his friend's arm reassuringly, "it'll be fine; we'll just go back the way we came."

"We can't," Remus said, causing James and Sirius to look at him rather strangely, "They won't like it. We're already too close to them…"

James and Sirius exchanged a baffled look, finally finding something they agreed on, but swiftly looked away as they realised what they'd done.

"Them?" James asked, frowning curiously while Sirius hoped that his suspicions were wrong.

"The centaurs. We can't go near them; it was probably part of a deal Slughorn made to save his own skin. If we stray into their territory, which I take it is kind of in the direction we came from…" he trailed off, leaving his companions to figure out what he meant.

"We'll get the crap kicked out of us. Literally," Sirius muttered darkly, and waited for James to take control of the situation. He didn't particularly want to get into a pointless but lengthy argument about who was in charge, but as he waited, there was a clopping sound in the distance, and instinctively the three boys moved in the opposite direction, trying to shield themselves from low branches but failing rather miserably since none of them actually had a free hand. Despite their efforts, however, the sound of hooves got closer, and as James tripped on a stray root and fell to the floor, pulling the other two down with him, the noise suddenly stopped, unnervingly close to the trio.

"These young ones dare to set foot in what they call the forbidden forest?" a voice came from a short distance away and Remus, as the only one with hearing good enough to identify the six or so feet of distance between them and the centaurs- judging by the sound there were three- looked up at the speaker, who in the dark was identifiable only by his hair; long, blond and perfectly straight, it passed the centaurs shoulders, giving him a rather ethereal appearance. Although, as Remus considered the situation, ethereal wasn't that bad. It was better than hostile, violent, murderous…

"Humans, particularly young ones, seem to find it necessary to prove their worth by placing themselves in as much danger as possible," a second, darker centaur muttered, his contempt for the bipedal species evident in his tone and expression.

"We're not here by choice…" Remus ventured quietly, and the centaurs looked at him for a few terrifying moments.

"This is the one Dumbledore has spoken of. We cannot harm him," the third centaur mentioned, and the other two turned to him.

"Dumbledore mentioned Remus?" James asked, still holding Remus's forearm protectively. From where he was sitting, Remus partially on top of him, Sirius felt the other boy tense. There was only one thing that made him stand out from the rest of the students.

"He feels that it is only fair to warn us of a possible threat," the third centaur informed him, although there was a shortness in his tone that showed his lack of interest in the conversation.

"What? Remus, a threat?" James stared at the centaur that had spoken, but received no reply beyond the arching of an eyebrow. Wanting an explanation, James looked at Remus, who was staring evasively at the floor. Ever alert, Sirius didn't take his eyes off the centaurs, who he considered to be the more serious threat at that particular moment in time. Well, at that particular time of the month, anyway.

"Sometimes even the gentlest of humans can lose themselves to the power within," the second centaur said cryptically, baffling James further.

"What are you talking about?" James persisted, and Sirius shot him a warning look that was duly ignored.

"It is not our place to say," the third centaur told him, and the first rolled his eyes, exasperated by his companions' compassion for the humans, "If you leave now, we will do you no harm."

"But we've got to find Professor Slughorn. And that Baure…alis…?" Remus's tone started off as though he was objecting, but at a withering stare from the first centaur, he lost momentum somewhat, eventually trailing off as he looked meekly at the ground.

"The plant for which you search no longer grows here. Your potions professor has exhausted his supply. Tell him that." The third centaur, who seemed to be the most talkative of the trio, informed them.

"So we did all of this for nothing?" James asked in disbelief, and Sirius cringed, hoping that the centaurs didn't see stupidity as a capital offence.

"So it would seem," the second centaur said, although he was evidently attempting to finish the conversation in as little time as possible.

"Right!" Sirius, cutting across James as he opened his mouth yet again to speak, said brightly "Let's go then!" and, ignoring the glare he was getting for interrupting, he pulled Remus to his feet and waited for James to get up. Smiling pleasantly at the centaurs, he inclined his head in thanks, and then grabbed Remus and James by the wrist and dragged them away in what he thought was the direction of the castle.

"Get the hell off me, Black," James warned, attempting to sound threatening but failing somewhat as a branch hit him in the face and he spent the next minute of so spitting out pieces of bark.

"We've got to get out of here," Sirius told him, frowning as he realised that what he'd just said was exactly what he'd been thinking the last time he'd spent an evening with Remus. Maybe there was some sort of connection...

"Yeah, well, thanks but I can do that without you holding my hand," as Sirius slowed and stopped, James pulled his arm away and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his robes, noticing suddenly how cold he was.

Rolling his eyes, Sirius turned to Remus, "Do you know where to go?" he asked, letting go of his arm as he sensed James's glare.

Remus paused, turning slowly in a circle as he considered the possibility of each direction with not only his eyes, but also his ears and his nose.

"No idea," he said eventually, and Sirius let out the breath he suddenly realised he'd been holding. Remus looked sadly at the floor, annoyed with himself. Why couldn't he have been more helpful?

Sirius sighed, "Well, sitting here's not going to help," he said with forced brightness before heading in the direction they'd been going. Wordlessly, Remus followed him, but James, still feeling resentful about the way Sirius had ignored him when making their decision, stubbornly set off in another direction, determined to prove the others wrong about his inability to lead. Well, not Remus so much… but he **did** keep hiding things from him. What had those centaurs been talking about? Remus, who wouldn't hurt a fly, a threat?

Again, he was struck with the suspicion that something was up.

Unfortunately, he didn't manage to take that thought any further. Beneath his feet, part of the path gave way, and he found himself slipping sideways, tumbling into a miniature valley of sorts and landing painfully about six feet below the path, with one of his legs trapped beneath him. Upon attempting to stand, a sharp pain shot up his leg and he cried out, realising with a shock that he could have broken his leg or ankle. Still, if he didn't put too much weight on it…

"Fuck!" he swore as his attempt to push himself onto his feet with his arms failed spectacularly, his hand going straight through the log he had been using as support. Sighing and cursing his bad luck, James attempted to get his hand out from inside of the log… only to find that no matter which way he moved it, it remained stuck. With two of his limbs out of action, and all other movement hindered by the pain that renewed every time he tried to move the rest of his body, he was forced to admit that, until his hunger managed to overcome the pain and he was able to drag himself back to the castle, he was stuck.

Something was definitely up. Unfortunately, it wasn't him.

End chapter

_Boom, baby! It's finally up! Hooray! I hope you liked it; it was insanely long without actually going all that far, and I don't like it at all, but I'm working towards the next action-packed, dramatic chapter. Well, sort of._

_Cookie anyone? Two for constructive criticism! Please?_


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